Not Applicable
Not Applicable
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, in general, to spacecraft and their assembly, transport to and placement in exospheric environment. In particular, it involves a radical departure from the current state of the art in that it forgoes the modern practice of designing and building orbital and interplanetary craft, regardless of their required degree of structural strength, to the standards necessary to survive the rigors of rocket launch shocks, vibrations and g-forces. This departure from the current practice consists in special containerization of spacecraft components or modules, conventional rocket transport of the components/modules to an orbital assembly locus, and final in-orbit assembly and deployment by human or robotic effort.
2. Description of Related Art
The designer of spacecraft, particularly those bearing delicate devices such as scientific instrumentation, has been confronted with serious difficulties in designing mechanical and electrical articles/ devices that must survive a severe transport environment of shock, vibration, acoustical coupling, decompression and thermal variation. Today, spacecraft are flown on launch vehicles of the United States Space Transportation System (STS) as well as vehicles from China, Russia, Israel and the European Union. Common to all of these vehicles, under the best of circumstances, is the requirement that any spacecraft, or other payload that flies on them, be designed to survive acceleration, vibration, and acoustic forces that are several times those they will experience in space. These design requirements literally drive the cost and scheduling of a spacecraft mission and thereby define a problem well known in the field, that of acquiring spacecraft rocket launch-survivability at high cost and heavier than (technically) necessary construction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,582 shows a spacecraft constructed of multiple payloads (modules) and which is rocket-launched and placed in earth orbit as a unitary article. To place this craft in space by a conventional launch vehicle, it must be constructed to standards such as NASA STD 5003, which will ensure its survival in the launch and space environments. Such standards, when met by a system or component/sub-system, including special containers or packaging, acquire a launch/ rocket-transport/space qualification, i.e., are certified and termed xe2x80x9cqualifiedxe2x80x9d.
In the present practice, whole satellites/spacecraft must be qualified for acceptance aboard, and launched by conventional launch vehicles. The aforesaid requirement for qualification, therefore, militates the high cost design and construction of all satellites/spacecraft.
The deficiencies and limitations of prior art and practice, in the launching and space posturing of space systems, craft or satellites (hereinafter, xe2x80x9ccraftxe2x80x9d), are overcome by my method. First, a desired craft is designed as an ensemble of modular sub-systems/ components/ devices that may be readily assembled by human and/or robot effort, cognizant of the fact that the modules need not be fabricated to xe2x80x9cqualifiedxe2x80x9d standards, but only to those necessary to perform their intended functions, in their intended environments. For example (and as will be further delineated hereafter), craft are in fabrication that utilize this modular concept and whose structures are made from sheet or formed aluminum rather than costly machined aluminum and expensive composites. Their average structural design costs plunge as much as 90%; so also may the costs associated with deployable booms, antennas, or other appendages. A concurrent advantage of using the instant transporting method is elimination of the second and third most common failures plaguing spacecraft today-separation failure and malfunction in deploying appendages in space. Another asset is the ability to test spacecraft and replace failing modules/ components before final deployment.
In preparation for launch, an assembled craft, or an assemblage of components (module) of a craft is placed within a container that is itself qualified, without the (contained) craft/assemblage being so qualified. Thus, the craft or assemblages that can be put together (be built into a craft) by robot or human methods are materially less expensive than those built in current practice.
The individual pieces, parts, system or subsystem parts that are carried aloft in the manner described are assembled, say as modular parts, into an operating spacecraft that can be deployed into orbit or remain a fixed part of the space station. The spacecraft will be made of fit-together subassemblies (components or modules) that can be assembled into an operating satellite, or used to construct larger space vehicles. The spacecraft will have, but are not limited to, batteries, solar arrays, attitude control devices, structural and propulsion elements, and science, engineering, or commercial payloads.
After launch and space positioning are accomplished, a craft is built in space or in orbiting facilities best exemplified by the U.S. Space Shuttle or the International Space Station (ISS). The craft would then be deployed from the orbiting facility, to proceed on the mission for which it was designed.